Will the faithful line up for Snow Leopard this Friday?

The Northbrook Apple Store for Leopard's launch in October 2007

Now that the news is out and we have an official date, will we have a line outside Friday for Snow Leopard?

For some insight, I looked back at a post I did prior to the Leopard launch in October of 2007. The turnout was dwarfed for certain by the launch of the first generation iPhone that summer, but was still probably along the size for previous OS releases.

October 26, 2007

"The first was a young guy who had been the first in line at 4:15... The line stayed pretty modest until about 5:30 when the lines began to swell. By the time the doors opened a healthy crowd filed in, upgrades on one side, new computer buyers on the other."

And although sizes for Apple crowds since have not come to the size of that frantic iPhone weekend of 2007, the steady pace of customers buying the iPhone 3GS arguably helped make that launch the success it was. So too did the fact that many were able to pre-order the phone, getting them to the front of the line.

So I have a couple of questions regarding Friday's release:

With the announcement just 5 days before launch, will your 'regular' Mac user- not the uber geek-know that it's out or feel obligated to upgrade? With the cost being so low, will people just pre-order it instead?

I Twittered my question out this morning and was kind to receive a few replies back from some folks who know far more about this stuff than I do .

Dwight Silverman of the Houston Chronicle and the TechBlog:

Julio Ojeda-Zapata writes for the Pioneer Press:John F. Braun is a contributing writer for The Mac Observer and co-hosts 'The Mac Geek Gab' with Dave Hamilton

I think the comments here could sum it up. A lot will pre-order (Silverman), some may hold off because it's mostly an under-the-hood upgrade (Zapata) and with less than a week to get the word out to the mainstream Mac audience may not be aware that it's out already (Braun).

My official recommendation is do get it, but take advantage of the pre-order option or come after the initial throngs converge because you probably have a lot better use for your time than say someone like me. Snow Leopard though has a lot of refinements that will make your Mac run a little better and will be the basis for a lot more software advancements down the line-and well, you just can't beat the price. So no matter what option you use to get it, because it's good for your Mac.

For me though, I like being part of a shared group experience that you just can't get online. It's fun to chat with folks and to feel some of that mojo that only Apple can seem to bring out time and time again.